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Title: Abortion


1
Abortion
  • Lawyers Christian Fellowship
  • 20 November 2006

2
Beginning of Life Issues
  • Abortion
  • Contraception
  • Artificial reproduction
  • Designer babies
  • Embryo research
  • Cloning
  • Gene therapy

3
Abortion contradictions
  • The healthcare system has departments of fetal
    medicine, while also providing facilities and
    staff to perform abortions
  • The law allows abortion for abnormalities right
    up to term, but many babies born after only 23
    weeks of pregnancy now survive
  • We encourage people to consider adoption, but
    abortion is so widely accepted and available that
    there are few babies to adopt

4
Abortion contradictions
  • We pass equal opportunity laws but work hard to
    ensure that babies with disabilities are screened
    out before birth
  • At the same time as we are reducing the status of
    life before birth, medical technology is
    literally changing our view of the fetus

5
Abortion in the UK The facts
  • UK law permits abortion of healthy babies up to
    24 weeks
  • Babies suspected of having a disability can be
    aborted up to birth
  • 6,231,033 babies have been aborted since the
    Abortion Act 1967 became law
  • More than 200,000 babies are aborted in Britain
    each year one in every four pregnancies

6
How many is 6,231,033?
  • More than 10 of the entire UK population
  • More than the combined populations of Birmingham,
    Bradford, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Chester,
    Derby, Edinburgh, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool,
    Manchester, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Northampton,
    Nottingham, Oxford, Sheffield
  • 5 times the UK casualties in two World Wars

7
More specifically
  • Early abortion figures have tripled since 1967
    and continue to rise
  • More than 600 babies are aborted every day
  • More than 3,000 a year are killed after 20 weeks
  • Disabled babies can be aborted up to birth
  • More than 450 babies were aborted in 2004 for
    having Downs Syndrome

8
Abortion worldwide
  • 55 million abortions per year
  • Major demographic changes with falling
    birth-rates in Eastern Europe/ Former USSR
  • Major changes in sex ratios in India/China

9
95 of abortions occur between
  • Seven weeks

10
and 20 weeks
  • Half way through pregnancy
  • Four weeks short of viability

11
Why are abortions done?
  • 95 of abortions are performed on Ground C, which
    exempts a doctor from prosecution for performing
    an abortion (before the 24th week) if
  •  
  • continuance of the pregnancy would involve
    risk, greater than if the pregnancy were
    terminated, of injury to the physical or mental
    health of the pregnant woman

12
Public opinion is changing
  • Nine out of ten MPs want the abortion law to be
    under CONTINUOUS review in light of advances in
    medical science
  • 63 of MPs support a reduction in the six-month
    upper age limit
  • Nearly two-thirds of the public want the
    six-month upper age limit reduced now

13
Public opinion is changing
  • More than three-quarters of women support a
    reduction in the six-month upper age limit
  • Public opinion poll finds that 81 of those who
    expressed an opinion believe that ways should be
    found of reducing the 200,000 abortions performed
    each year in Britain
  • Even some in the abortion industry accept that
    change must happen

14
Why is public opinion changing?
  • Developments in medical science have increased
    our understanding of how babies develop in the
    womb
  • The abortion of a baby at 28 weeks for cleft
    palate shocked the nation
  • Newspapers and TV have revealed the abuse of
    teenagers by a cash-driven abortion industry
  • Stories of abortion survivors in the media

15
Why is public opinion changing?
  • Questions are regularly raised in Parliament
    concerning abortion clinics that harm women with
    bad practice
  • Increasingly, evidence reveals that many women
    suffer from depression after abortion
  • Extensive research shows that after abortion a
    mother has an increased likelihood of subsequent
    premature births

16
Late Abortion
  • 100 late abortions per year since 1991
  • Recent case at 26 weeks for cleft palate
  • Joanna Jepson
  • Downs Syndrome

17
Human development
  • Six weeks
  • Twelve weeks
  • Eighteen weeks

18
Life before birth on the media
  • Prof Stuart Campbells ultrasounds
  • Front page news
  • Walking in the womb
  • Yawning on video

19
Abortion survivors
  • Stories of botched abortions
  • Stories of babies born alive after abortion
  • Gianna Jessen

20
History of abortion
  • Practised in most societies at some level for
    many centuries
  • Legalised abortion on a massive scale a 20th
    century phenomenon

21
Hippocratic Oath
  • I will give no deadly medicine to anyone if
    asked nor suggest such counsel nor in like
    manner will I give a woman a pessary to produce
    abortion

22
Declaration of Geneva
  • I will maintain the utmost respect for human life
    from the time of conception, even under threat, I
    will not use my medical knowledge contrary to the
    laws of humanity
  • I will maintain the utmost respect for human life
    from its beginning even under threat and I will
    not use my medical knowledge contrary to the laws
    of humanity
  • (Changes 1948-1994)

23
International Code of Medical Ethics
  • A doctor must always bear in mind the obligation
    of preserving human life from conception. (1949)
  • A doctor must always bear in mind the obligation
    of preserving human life. (1983)

24
The Declaration of Oslo (1970)
  • There is a 'diversity of attitudes towards the
    life of the unborn child'
  •  
  • 'Where the law allows therapeutic abortion to be
    performed... and this is not against the policy
    of the national medical association' then
    abortion 'should be performed' in circumstances
    'where the vital interests of the mother conflict
    with those of the unborn child'.
  •  
  • This declaration lays the framework for doctors
    to perform abortions if their 'individual
    conviction and conscience' allowed it and the law
    and the national medical association were not in
    disagreement.

25
Changing Abortion Policy 1948-2000
  • 'I will not give to a woman a pessary to produce
    abortion.' Hippocratic Oath
  • 'I will maintain the utmost respect for human
    life from the time of conception even against
    threat...' The Declaration of Geneva (1948)
  • 'The spirit of the Hippocratic Oath can be
    affirmed by the profession. It enjoins... the
    duty of caring, the greatest crime being
    destruction in the co-operation of life by
    murder, suicide and abortion' BMA Statement
    (1947)

26
Changing Abortion Policy 1948-2000
  • The child deserves 'legal protection before as
    well as after birth'. The UN Declaration of the
    Rights of the Child (1959)
  • 'Therapeutic abortion' (may be performed in
    circumstances) 'where the vital interests of the
    mother conflict with those of the unborn child'.
    Declaration of Oslo (1970)
  • 'I will maintain the utmost respect for human
    life from its beginning...' The Declaration of
    Geneva (amended 1983)
  • 'Abortion is a basic health care need.' RCOG
    (2000)

27
Philosophical Shift C17-C20
  • Theism
  • Humans are created and morals are revealed
  • Deism
  • Humans are created and morals are discovered
  • Atheism
  • Humans have evolved and morals are discovered
  • Existentialism
  • Humans have evolved and morals are chosen

28
Christian Principles
  • The Sanctity of Life - Human beings are made in
    the image of God (Genesis 127, 96, Exodus
    2013) abortion involves killing a human being
  • Marriage is the proper context for sex (Genesis
    224) 82 of abortions result from sex outside
    marriage
  • The strong should make sacrifices for the weak
    (John 1334-45 Galatians 62) abortion is an
    abuse of the weak by the strong

29
Sanctity of Life
  • No discrimination on the basis of sex, race,
    social standing (Gal 328) and age (Mt 1914)
  • Protection for the vulnerable poor (Pr
    2222-23), widows and orphans (Ex 2222-24),
    aliens (Ex 2221), handicapped (Lv 1914), slaves
    (Ex 212-6) and elderly (Lv 1932)
  • Life before birth (Is 491 Je 15 Jb 108-9,
    18-19 Gn 2522-23 Ps 229,10, 515, 716,
    11973 Ec 115 Is 442,34 Ho 123 Mt 118 Lk
    115, 41-44)
  • Over 60 references to conception

30
Psalm 13913-16
  •  13 For you created my inmost being        you
    knit me together in my mother's womb.
  •  14 I praise you because I am fearfully and
    wonderfully made        your works are
    wonderful,        I know that full well.
  •  15 My frame was not hidden from you        when
    I was made in the secret place.        When I
    was woven together in the depths of the earth,
  •  16 your eyes saw my unformed body.        All
    the days ordained for me        were written in
    your book        before one of them came to be.

31
Exodus 2122-25
  •  22 If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman
    and she gives birth prematurely but there is no
    serious injury, the offender must be fined
    whatever the woman's husband demands and the
    court allows. 23 But if there is serious injury,
    you are to take life for life, 24 eye for eye,
    tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25
    burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise
    (NIV)
  •  22If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so
    that her fruit depart from her, and yet no
    mischief follow he shall be surely punished,
    according as the woman's husband will lay upon
    him and he shall pay as the judges determine
    (KJV)

32
The sixth commandment
  • You shall not murder (Ex 2013 Dt 517 Mt
    1918 Rom 139)
  • Murder (Hb ratsach Gk phoneuo)
  • The intentional killing of an innocent human
    being (Ex 2112-14 Lv 2417-21 Nu 3516-31 Dt
    194-13)
  • Distinguished from the killing of guilty human
    beings in Holy War (Dt 2010-18), capital
    punishment (over 20 offences) and self-defence
    (Ex 222,3)

33
Secular Principles
  • Quality of life - Taking human life is justified
    if it is of low quality and constitutes a burden
    to others
  • Autonomy - The right to exercise sexual and
    reproductive freedom and make moral choices
    according to our own personal values
  • Compassion The avoidance of suffering
  • Relativism Each person can choose their own
    values

34
Christian responses
  • Quality of life Human life is precious by
    virtue of being human and regardless of its
    quality. The strong should protect the weak
  • Autonomy We are not free to make choices which
    violate the reasonable freedoms of others
  • Compassion abortion is a actually potent cause
    of suffering for both mother and baby
  • Relativism There are universally recognised
    values, like sexual purity and the sanctity of
    life, which all should respect

35
The key question
  • What is the unborn child worth and what
    circumstances justify it being killed?

36
Arguments against abortion
  • Isn't the fetus only a potential human being?
  •  
  • How can a non-sentient being have value?
  •  
  • Don't women have a right to choose?
  • Won't refusing abortion simply mean that women
    and children suffer?

37
Arguments against abortion
  • Surely we can't return to the days of back street
    abortionists and abortion tourism?
  • What about abortion for rape?
  • What about abortion for fetal handicap?
  • What about abortion to save the life of the
    mother?

38
Isnt the fetus only a potential human being?
  • Isnt it rather a human being with potential or
    a potential adult?
  • The fetus is both human and alive and therefore a
    human being
  • The key question is what value we give that being

39
How can a non-sentient being have value?
  • Human value is not based on human
    characteristics such as consciousness, awareness,
    age, size or ability to communicate but simply on
    being human
  • To kill a child in the womb is to discriminate on
    the basis of non-morally relevant characteristics
    like age, location or degree of consciousness

40
Don't women have a right to choose?
  • Autonomy has limits and we cannot make choices
    which limit the reasonable freedoms of others
  • The fetus is not part of a womans body but a
    genetically distinct human being

41
Won't refusing abortion simply mean that women
suffer?
  • Women who abort are 3.5 times more likely to die
    within the year than women who have normal
    births this includes deaths from suicide (seven
    times), accidents (4x) and natural causes (1.6x)
    (Finnish study 1987-1994)
  • Mental illness is a contraindication to abortion
    (Royal College of Psychiatrists) and depression
    and psychiatric admissions are higher after
    abortion than normal birth
  • There is an acknowledged link between abortion of
    the first pregnancy and breast cancer (Brind,
    2005)
  • Abortion increases the risk of subsequent pelvic
    infection and infertility

42
Post-abortion syndrome
  • Much more common if previous mental illness,
    religious background and ambiguity about
    abortion.
  • Abortion does not end all the problems it often
    just exchanges one set for another (Francis
    Schaeffer)

43
Wont refusing abortion simply mean the children
suffer through abuse and deprivation?
  • Most abused children come from wanted pregnancies
  • The incidence of child abuse has doubled since
    the Abortion Act came into force
  • Most unwanted pregnancies, if not aborted, result
    in wanted children.
  • Adoption is always an option and there is lots of
    support for unmarried mothers

44
Surely we can't return to the days of back street
abortionists and abortion tourism?
  • Claims of thousands of deaths before the 1967
    Abortion Act were wildly exaggerated
  • Most back-street abortions before the Abortion
    Act were performed by doctors
  • UK maternal deaths from abortion had fallen to
    less than 20 per year by the time of the Abortion
    Act
  • In Poland following a 1993 change in the law
    abortions fell dramatically from 180,000 a year
    to 150 without any increase in maternal deaths

45
What about abortion for rape?
  • Rape is an extremely serious crime but
  • Pregnancy following rape is extremely rare and
    far less than 1 of abortions are performed
    following alleged rape
  • Rape sacrifices a second innocent victim (Should
    the baby die for the crime of its father?)
  • In the only major study of pregnant rape victims
    ever done, 75 to 85 chose against abortion

46
What about abortion for fetal handicap?
  • Fetal handicap accounts for far less than 1 of
    all UK abortions
  • It now extends to viable children with remediable
    conditions (eg cleft palate)
  • Over 450 Downs syndrome children (over half the
    total) are now aborted annually
  • Why do we tolerate destruction of children with
    special needs before but not after birth?

47
What about abortion to save the life of the
mother?
  • Only 0.013 of UK abortions are performed 'to
    save the life of the mother'
  • there are no medical circumstances justifying
    direct abortion, that is, no circumstances in
    which the life of the mother may only be saved by
    directly terminating the life of her unborn
    child'. (Irish obstetricians, 1992)
  • Of 21 maternal deaths among 74,317 pregnancies at
    the National Maternity Hospital in Dublin from
    1970-1979, abortion wouldn't have saved the
    mother's life in a single case

48
The middle way (John 81-11)
  • Prevention of unplanned pregnancy
  • Legal protection for the baby
  • Care for the mother (CARE Centres Network)
  • Promotion of adoption

49
Legal protection for the baby
  • Dangers of making things worse (1991)
  • Problems with a change solely aimed at bringing
    down upper limit
  • Impossibility of an all or nothing approach
    (Poland and South Dakota)

50
Bringing about legal change
  • Broad coalitions (Alive and Kicking)
  • Prime focus on changing public opinion
  • Specific legal interventions (upper limit for
    handicap, separating psych and physical
    indications, accurate recording of complications)
  • Changing medical opinion guidance of RCOG and
    RCPsych on psychological effects of abortion and
    resuscitation guidelines

51
Specific opportunities
  • Private members ballot
  • 40th anniversary of Abortion Act October 2007

52
Alive and Kicking
  • A powerful alliance of nine organisations
  • CARE
  • Christian Medical Fellowship
  • Comment on Reproductive Ethics
  • Evangelical Alliance
  • Guild of Catholic Doctors
  • Lawyers Christian Fellowship
  • LIFE
  • ProLife Alliance
  • Student LifeNet

53
Alive and Kicking
  • Aims and goals
  • Our near-term objective is to halve the yearly
    abortions from 200,000 to 100,000 per year

54
Alive and Kicking Aims
  • An immediate, substantial reduction in the upper
    age limit for abortion.
  • Eliminating discriminatory abortion of disabled
    babies up to birth.
  • Proper enforcement of the abortion law as
    originally intended.
  • A prohibition of abortions for social
    convenience.
  • A Charter of Informed Consent drawn up to ensure
    women are made aware of medical and psychological
    risks associated with abortion.
  • A cooling-off period between diagnosis of
    pregnancy and access to abortion.
  • Provision of compassionate alternatives to
    abortion
  • Increasing support for families with disabled
    children
  • Guaranteed regular reviews of the abortion law.

55
Useful addresses
  • CARE Centres Network
  • (www.careconfidential.com)
  • Alive and Kicking (www.aliveandkickingcampaign.org
    )
  • Christian Medical Fellowship
  • (www.cmf.org.uk)
  • Elliott Institute
  • (afterabortion.org)
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